What are deepfakes? How and why they work

Deepfakes swap celebrities’ faces into porn videos and put words in politicians’ mouths, but they could do a lot worse. Deepfakes are fake videos or audio recordings that look and sound just like the real thing. Once the bailiwick of Hollywood special effects studios and intelligence agencies producing propaganda, like the CIA or GCHQ’s JTRIGdirectorate, today anyone can download deepfake software and create convincing fake videos in their spare time.